Elden Ring Larval Tears Locations and Total Count

If you're wondering how many Larval Tears are in Elden Ring, here's the clean answer: the base game has 18, and Shadow of the Erdtree adds a few more, bringing the practical total to around 22–24 per playthrough depending on how thoroughly you explore. Since each Tear equals one respec, that gives you a decent amount of flexibility — but not an unlimited one. In other words, you can absolutely fix a bad build, pivot into a new weapon, or tune for PvP, but you still want to spend them with some intention.

How Many Larval Tears Are in Elden Ring

There are 18 Larval Tears in the base game, spread across the Lands Between through enemy drops, field pickups, and one merchant purchase. Every time you use Rennala's Rebirth option, you spend one Tear, so that means up to 18 full respecs in a single base-game run.

Shadow of the Erdtree adds roughly 5–6 more Larval Tears in the Realm of Shadow. If you fully clear both the base game and DLC, your total lands somewhere around 23 to 24 Tears for that playthrough. That's a pretty meaningful bump, especially if you're the kind of player who likes testing multiple builds instead of hard-committing early.

As of the 2026 patch state, nothing has changed here. FromSoftware hasn't adjusted the Larval Tear total, and the Rebirth system works the same way it always has. No new sources were added through patches, and none of the old ones were removed.

One detail that's easy to miss: unused Larval Tears carry over into New Game Plus. So if you finish a run with extras in your inventory, you keep them, then get access to a fresh set in NG+ once the world resets. If you plan ahead, that stockpile gets pretty comfortable.

Elden Ring Larval Tear Locations by Region

If your goal is early respec access, location matters a lot more than the raw total. Some Tears are available fairly early, while others are tucked behind mid-game progression or underground routes.

Limgrave and Liurnia are your best early stops. In Limgrave, one of the earliest Tears comes from a mimic enemy near Agheel Lake South — what looks like a normal Wandering Noble turns into a Runebear when you engage it, and killing it gives you a Tear. Liurnia is even better and has the biggest early cluster: one at the Village of the Albinaurics from a disguised enemy in the poison swamp, one in the graveyard east of Caria Manor from a spectral figure sitting in a chair, and one from Pidia, Carian Servant, who sells a Tear for 3,000 runes. That's the only simple merchant purchase in the base game.

Caelid and Altus Plateau each have a smaller share. These usually come from mimic-style enemies disguised as familiar mobs like Grafted Scions or Living Jars before they reveal themselves. They're easy to miss if you're sprinting through the zone, but they're there for players who actually check suspicious encounters.

Nokron, Eternal City and the wider underground are where the density really picks up. After beating Starscourge Radahn and opening the way to Nokron, you can find multiple Tears there — some from silver Tear enemies, others sitting on corpses throughout the ruins. This part of the map rewards slow, thorough exploration way more than just following the main path.

Region	Approximate Tear Count	Primary Source Type
Limgrave	1	Mimic enemy drop
Liurnia of the Lakes	4–5	Mimic drops + Pidia merchant
Caelid / Altus Plateau	2–3	Mimic enemy drops
Nokron / Underground	4–5	Silver Tear mimics + field pickups
Mountaintops / Late Game	2–3	Field pickups + mimic drops

Shadow of the Erdtree Larval Tear Locations

The DLC handles Larval Tears a bit differently, and honestly, this is one of the more interesting collection quirks in Shadow of the Erdtree.

The big gimmick is night-only glowing graves. Some graves in the Realm of Shadow only become interactable at night, and you'll see a faint glow when they're active. Show up during the day and you'll get nothing. Come back after switching to nighttime, and the pickup appears.

In Gravesite Plain, the DLC's opening area, there's at least one Tear in the blue-lit cemetery directly east of the Gravesite Plain Site of Grace. This is one of the easiest DLC Tears to grab and should probably be one of your first pickups once you enter the expansion.

Further into Scadu Altus, the Tears get more awkward. You'll find them in isolated spots like scorched ruins in the southeastern part of the region, and near collapsed structures that take either careful platforming or some enemy cleanup before they're safe to reach. Compared to Gravesite Plain, these are definitely less free.

There are also other Realm of Shadow pickups, including one near the Abandoned Ailing Village, south of the settlement and east of the Greatbridge, North Site of Grace. A few more come from specific field enemies that use the same disguise-then-transform trick as some base-game Tear sources.

How Larval Tears Work in Elden Ring

You can't use Larval Tears right away. First, you need to unlock Rebirth by defeating Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon in Raya Lucaria Academy. Once she's beaten, Rennala stays in the Grand Library as a friendly NPC, and choosing "Rebirth" lets you respec in exchange for one Larval Tear.

There is one major restriction, and it's a big one: you can't lower any stat below your starting class baseline. So if you started as a Vagabond, for example, you can never drop below 15 Vigor or 11 Strength. That's why starting class still matters even in a game with respecs — it sets the permanent floor for your stat spread.

A very useful bit of good news: cancelling Rebirth does not consume a Larval Tear. You can open the menu, move points around, test ideas, and back out if it doesn't look right. The Tear is only spent when you confirm the final allocation.

And yes, Larval Tears carry over into NG+, while the world's Tear sources reset. So if you end your first run with a few left over, you start the next cycle with those still in your inventory, plus a new batch to collect. For players who like experimenting later rather than earlier, that's a huge advantage.

Best Larval Tear Use Cases

Knowing the total is useful. Knowing when to actually spend one matters more.

Build swap checkpoints are usually the smartest timing. After a major Shardbearer or when you enter a new region, you generally have a much clearer read on what weapons, spells, and playstyles you actually enjoy. That's a way better moment to respec than making a blind guess in the early game.

Weapon scaling pivots are another excellent use. If you suddenly pick up something like Moonveil or Rivers of Blood, it can make perfect sense to rebuild around it — going from Strength-heavy stats into Intelligence/Dexterity or Dexterity/Arcane, for example. In practice, one well-timed respec can do more for your damage than several extra levels spent trying to brute-force a mismatched build.

For PvE versus PvP, the logic changes a bit. PvE is forgiving enough that a slightly messy build can still clear bosses if your fundamentals are good. PvP is less generous. If you're aiming for a specific Soul Level bracket, a respec to tighten up your damage, poise, or survivability can be absolutely worth the Tear.

The real save versus spend question is simple: is your current build still getting the job done? If yes, you usually hold. If no — if you're hitting a wall because your stats don't match your weapon, your spell scaling is off, or your build just feels bad — then spending a Tear is justified. Honestly, that's often faster than trying to grind your way out of a bad stat spread.

Elden Ring Larval Tear FAQ

Are Larval Tears farmable? No. Every Larval Tear is a one-time pickup or a one-time enemy drop per playthrough. Enemies that drop them do not respawn, and there is no repeatable farming method for extra Tears in a single cycle. If you want a fresh pool, you need to go into NG+.

Can you buy more Larval Tears? Not really. You can buy one from Pidia, Carian Servant in the lower section of Caria Manor in Liurnia for 3,000 runes. That's it. No other merchant in the base game or DLC sells them.

Do enemies that drop Larval Tears respawn? No. These mimic enemies and special field encounters are unique. Once they're dead, they're gone until NG+. Resting at a Site of Grace, dying, or using Celestial Dew won't bring them back.

Can you trade Larval Tears between players? No. Larval Tears are non-droppable items, so you can't leave one on the ground for another player to pick up. Every player has to find their own through exploration.

Conclusion

So, to sum it up cleanly: 18 Larval Tears are in the Elden Ring base game, and Shadow of the Erdtree adds about 5–6 more, putting the full per-playthrough total at roughly 23–24 if you explore everything. They aren't farmable, they aren't tradeable, and you don't get them back until NG+ resets the world.

If you're deciding what to grab first, Liurnia is easily the best early priority. Pidia's merchant Tear is straightforward, and the Village of the Albinaurics plus the eastern graveyard give you strong early access before the game really opens up. After that, Nokron is the best underground haul by far. In the DLC, the Gravesite Plain cemetery is the obvious early stop and well worth picking up right away.

At the end of the day, Larval Tears are there to let you adapt. Use them when your build actually needs help, not just because a new weapon looks cool for five minutes. Respec smarter, Tarnished.